In The Summer
by MrsTanaka
Summary: Akane attended every single one of his games since her first year and held more than just a bit of admiration for him in her heart so when he lost the game to Inashiro she felt her heart break. She was sure it was nothing compared to what he was feeling, but despite that he kept up his strong appearance. There was no way he could seriously be alright after that, right?


**Note:** Well...I should be updating one of my other stories, but I found a sudden inspriation in Tetsuya from DnA and ended up writing this piece. I'll try and update one of my other stories tomorrow...if I don't decide to write this Sanada Shunpei story I have an idea for OTL Anyways, hope you all enjoy this one shot!

She had never been a huge fan of Baseball and that may have been in large part due to the fact that she hated sitting out in the heat; however, she had gone to every game her school participated in for two years straight. She even went to watch them practice at times sitting in the stands as close to the shade as she could get with her nose in her textbooks only peeking up from them when she felt like it was safe to look at him.

She'd sit out in the rain or heat or even squish herself between two sweaty men who forgot what deodorant was if it meant she could watch him.

He didn't think twice about her existence. She was a girl that he had lent his umbrella to on a rainy day and now the two of them greeted each other in the halls, but it never went anywhere further than that. At school, he wore a mostly serious expression and it didn't help that she was a year younger than him and didn't get to see him all too often. He smiled on the field though. He smiled alongside his teammates and when he laughed it sent a chill down her spine and she swore she could feel it down to her very core. Right now though? Right now, he wasn't smiling…

She sat at the edge of her seat wondering if everything she had just witnessed was reality or not. The team that she was constantly cheering on and rooting for was currently lined up slouched over in defeat. The team that stood in front of them were happy with their victory as they should be, but she couldn't help the distaste that formed in her mouth for them. It was their fault that he was making the face that he was right now. It was a face she wasn't familiar with seeing him wearing. He wore a normally serious expression, but right now even as far away from him as she was she could clearly see the way his lips tightened into a line. The way his eyes seemed to struggle to keep up his composure refusing to cry in front of his team. Her hands tightened on her knees and she was vaguely aware of someone touching her shoulder and saying her name 'Akane' before leaving her behind to stare at the man she loved struggle to keep on the stern expression she was so used to seeing. She was sure her friend was telling her it was time to leave, but she couldn't find any strength in her legs. How was he still standing so tall on the field?

It was Inashiro's victory.

The captain had yet to shed a tear over the loss unlike most of his team and she couldn't decide what broke her heart more the fact that he was still forcing himself to be strong for the sake of others or the fact that she was no longer going to be able to see him play anymore. She bit down on her lower lip as she pulled her hat from her head and leaned forward hiding her face in her hat. She let out an ugly sob without holding anything back. If she felt this bad then…she couldn't even imagine how he was feeling and yet unlike herself he had yet to cry. A stranger beside her wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tried to tell her that everything was going to be alright, but all she could do was sob into her hat. She didn't want this to be the end.

Later that night as she stared up at her ceiling replaying the events of the game over and over in her head again she decided to help him in the only way she could.

She sought out one of his friends, Isashiki Jun. An upperclassmen that she had never spoken to before in her life and though she feared talking to new people she still bravely held out a wrapped up bento and small thermos to him. She was lucky she had even found him considering they had two days off right now and most of the third years were preparing to leave the dorms set aside for the baseball team. She had woken up early that morning to prepare him a bento and write him a letter, but her hands lightly trembled and she was sadly not sure if it was because she had never done something like this or if it was from the fact that she could still see the face he had made yesterday. She felt another wave of emotions wash over her and she was forced to kneel down as she reminded herself that that was the last time she was going to see him play in a stadium like that. The sound of Jun's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she forced on a smile, but she knew that he could see the tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She knew because it wasn't long before they spilled down her cheeks.

"For the captain. Can you give it to him for me?" she said softly and barely caught the older male nod his head awkwardly not used to having a girl cry around him like this. What was he supposed to say? He couldn't even pick himself up after what had happened yesterday so there was definitely no way in hell he could even attempt to help pick up some girl he didn't even know. He gently took the two items from the girl before the two of them separated both afraid to speak anymore for fear that their voices might break.

Jun walked alone back to the dorm where he found Tetsuya packing up a few of his belongings with the same serious face. No one here was a fool though…they all knew that despite the appearance he was trying to keep up he was just as broken as the rest of them. The faces that Tetsuya was making were the looks a broken man made when he was trying to remain strong. Jun was pulled from his thoughts when the dark haired male pointed to the items in his hands and asked about where they had come from.

"Oh…some girl told me to give them to you," he replied while handing the two items to the other male before he began packing up a few of his own belongings. The two of them had to be out of this dorm in the next few days. The captain gave them a questioning gaze for a moment before finally deciding to set them down and open them both. He hadn't been feeling too hungry since last night, but he wasn't going to lie and say he wasn't the least bit curious to find out what 'some girl' had taken time to prepare him. He was pretty sure he had never received a bento from a girl outside of the managers on the baseball team before. He slowly untied the knot of the blue material ignoring the way his dorm mate seemed to be peering over his shoulder curious as well. A small slip of notebook paper caught the captain's eye first and he gingerly picked it up before opening it to read its contents.

 _I've watched every single one of your games since I began attending this school.  
Yesterday's game was…  
I wish I could hold your hand._

"That's a weird freaking way to confess," Jun spoke up from behind Tetsuya only to earn a bit of a glare from the dark haired male for having read over his shoulder. The captain gave something of a small sigh before he finally removed the lid from the bento, but upon seeing its contents he almost dropped it. Pickled plum rice and soba…a weird combination for a bento; however, they were his favorite foods. He had a feeling that he'd find green tea in the thermos. He eyed the letter once more double checking it for a name, but of course it was devoid of anything even close to a signature.

"You didn't recognize the girl who gave you this?" Tetsuya asked as he replaced the lid on the bento once more and turned to look at the other male whom shook his head at his captain's question.

"No, she was pretty short though, kind of cute, brown hair, brown eyes…she was crying though," he responded, but his voice grew quieter as he recalled the tears the young girl had had in her eyes.

The next day she appeared again, but this time she carried a decently sized box and she couldn't find any of the third years anywhere. She wandered around aimlessly for a while until her eyes fell on a dark haired figure returning from the baseball field. He was sweating…a lot; however, even she could see the burning desire in his eyes. She wondered for a moment what got him to take on such a look, but a rare breeze of summer pulled her from her thoughts and she quickly decided to approach him. She recognized him as the first year pitcher. Furuya. His pitches were scary and she had overheard talk from his opponents once before that they even seemed to roar. She stood in front of him with her hands lightly trembling around the neatly wrapped up gift. She knew he was looking at her, but under his intense gaze she found that it was difficult to find her voice. She took a slow and steady breath before she quickly lowered her head to him and extended the gift outward toward him.

"For the captain. Will you please give it to him?" she asked and smiled lightly when the boy nodded his head before taking the box from her. He quickly realized that it was rather heavy.

"Hey you!" a masculine voice called out from behind her and she quickly turned around to see who it was that called out. She found Isashiki Jun coming down from a flight of stairs. She stared at him wide eyed for a moment before giving him something of a smile and then bolting past Furuya as fast as her feet could take her. Jun came to a stop beside Furuya before frowning at her retreating figure. Damn, she was fast.

"For Tetsuya?" Jun asked before motioning toward the gift in Furuya's arms. The young pitcher nodded his head in response before handing the gift to the older male knowing that they still shared a dorm as of right now.

"Was she someone you knew?" Furuya asked as the male took the gift and gave a slight look of surprise at the weight of the gift much as Furuya had done a moment ago.

"No, but she stopped by yesterday with a bento for him as well," Jun responded before sighing lightly and turning on his heel. He walked back with Furuya to the dorms in mostly silence; however, right before the dark haired teen was about to enter the baths he spoke up.

"Her shirt said Seido Volleyball team," Furuya said and watched for a second as the older male nodded his head in some kind of thanks before moving on to find Tetsuya in his room.

The dark haired captain was currently sitting in front of a Shogi board with Miyuki sitting on the opposite end of it. The atmosphere was slowly getting better after the hard defeat two days ago. The faces of the third years were still a bit strained at times and one could easily see when they were thinking about the game, but it wasn't as if two days was going to be enough to get over that kind of loss. The two boys looked toward Jun upon his entrance before raising their brows at the large gift resting in his arms.

"That girl came by again…she spoke with Furuya this time and asked to him to give you this," Jun said before setting the gift on the floor beside the captain. The three boys stared at it for a moment before Miyuki finally broke the silence.

"Oh? A girl for the captain? What's her name?" he asked looking over toward Jun for some answers, but the man merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know, brown hair, brown eyes, short little thing…Oh! She's part of our Volleyball team. Furuya said that her shirt today had that written on it," Jun said as he took a seat on his bed watching the captain for a moment as he pulled a letter out from under the ribbon.

 _That last game…you were strong.  
I wish I could have held you…  
I really, really like you…_

No one read over his shoulder this time, but both boys were staring at him rather curiously. He told them that it wasn't signed again as he folded up the piece of paper before slowly unwrapping the gift. He stared wide eyed at the gift as did the other two boys in the room.

It was a beautifully crafted Shogi board that stood on four legs. The three of them sat silent for a moment as if expecting the board to just disappear or find out that this was all some sort of elaborate joke. Miyuki was the first one to speak up with something of a grin on his face.

"The Volleyball team, huh? Don't they have a game going on tomorrow? If they win tomorrow they go to nationals...a girl on the team wanted me to come and see her play," Miyuki said simply as he moved one of his Shogi pieces forward. Tetsuya didn't respond for a moment as he looked down at the new Shogi board for a while longer as he contemplated cutting classes tomorrow to go and see the girl's game.

"What time's the game tomorrow, Miyuki?" Jun said as if making up his mind for the captain before throwing his pillow at the dark haired male whom had given him a questioning gaze. "You don't know what she looks like. I'm the only one here beside Furuya who's seen her and he's got…practice tomorrow too," Jun said ignoring the way he and Tetsuya both flinched lightly at the reminder that they no longer had Baseball practice. Tetsuya nodded slightly before turning his attention back to his and Miyuki's game. He didn't know a thing about Volleyball, but he was curious about the girl who was going so far out of her way for him.

The next day he sat in a gymnasium full of Volleyball fans. He had arrived early with Jun, but quickly discovered that Volleyball seemed to be more popular than he had ever thought. He and Jun had found a place to sit as close to the court as they could and he focused on listening to the couple beside him. The girlfriend seemed to be explaining the rules and positions to her boyfriend, but the sudden increase in volume from the crowd pulled his thoughts away. The girls were beginning to filter onto the court and he quickly recognized his schools uniforms; however, were Volleyball shorts always so…short?! And why were uniforms so form fitting to begin with?! He blushed a light red color before his attention was pulled to his side where Jun had just elbowed him. He glared over toward the man with the intent of getting upset, but instead he was quickly struck silent.

"That's her. The girl with her hair pulled back by the band and the number five on her uniform," Jun said raising a hand to point down to the small girl whom was currently stretching one arm above her head. She was smiling happily with her teammates and one of the girls was…smacking her back continuously. It wasn't long before she turned around to snap at her teammate and then march away toward the coach. The two girls she left behind her laughing slightly at her sudden temper. Tetsuya watched her as she spoke to the coach…Jun was right; she was cute. The coach rested a hand on her shoulder and the two of them sort of nodded in agreement before they were told to line up. She gave a final smile to her coach before lining up at the back of the court with the rest of her team.

It wasn't long after that did the game start and Tetsuya watched as she jumped in place at the front line. She had a serious expression on and her hair bounced softly around her face. She took a long breath as her eyes settled onto her opponent in front of her and released it when she heard the familiar sound of one of her teammates serving the ball. It soared through the air and she kept her eyes glued to it. The game was finally starting and she forced herself to forget about the Baseball game a few days ago. She needed to focus on her own game. She didn't want to see her team make those faces too.

It was half way into the third set and she was currently sitting beside the coach as he quickly rewrapped her injured finger. It had happened in the second set. She had jumped to block a spike and it hit her middle finger rather hard. The coach noticed the injury immediately and had her pulled out of the game. She had sprained her finger, but they both knew that wasn't going to keep her out of the game. She was the ace and she'd be damned if she sat back and let her team lead her to victory. Akane had practically jogged all the way to the nurses office to get her injury treated, but in her attempt to hurry the nurse along the bandages were put on a tad too loose and after one particularly hard spike they began to unravel. The coach pulled her out again to tighten them himself as he complained about what a reckless girl she was. He told her to have faith in her team; however, to her it wasn't about believing in her team or not. It was about the effort she put in to help get her team to nationals. She would never forgive herself, win or lose, if she didn't feel like she put enough effort into the game. The moment the coach was done wrapping up her injured finger she ran to take her place back on the court smiling brightly as her teammates smacked her back some harder than others, but all received a playful glare or punch from her as well. She immediately called for the next toss and ignored the way pain shot through her finger the moment her hand made contact with the ball. She grinned when the ball hit the court on the other side and she tried to hide the pain in her hand, but sadly ended up shaking her hand slightly as if she could "shake" the pain away. She wouldn't let an injury like this slow her down, but sadly the captain quickly noticed her pain and shot a look to the coach as if begging him to take the girl off the court before she ended up further injuring herself.

Akane was taken from the court just as both teams made it into the twenties.

She kept a towel over her head while she looked down at the floor for the rest of the game. She was gripping her knees tightly and every time she heard the ball smack into the floor of the court she'd flinch slightly. The game ended with their victory, but she didn't feel nearly as satisfied as she should have. She was the ace it was her job to score points for her team; however, today she felt completely useless.

"C'mon Akane-chan! Stop being so mopey! The ace needs to be happy with the rest of us! You make it look like we lost," one of her teammates spoke up as the two of them exited the court. They were the last two to leave the gym and that was mostly due to the fact that Akane had taken her sweet time moping around while collecting her belongings.

"Yeah, you're right. I don't want the captain getting mad at me again," Akane said before shuddering lightly at the last time her captain had yelled at her for acting like a child on the court. "I'll score every point for our team at Nationals as an apology!" she declared loudly with one her fists clenched tight at her side. Her teammate only laughed at her antics before slapping her back for probably the tenth time today.

"That's our ace!" the girl said enthusiastically before stopping mid-step when two males came to block their paths. She slowly looked up toward the two of them, but her eyes quickly went wide in a bit of surprise when she found the captain and center fielder of their school's baseball team in front of her. She wondered briefly why the two were here, but one look at Akane reminded her that the girl had a huge crush on the dark haired captain. "I'll let the coach know you're going to get back on your own Akane-chan!" her friend spoke up before quickly leaving the brunette behind. Akane tried to get her to stop, but her words fell on deaf ears as her friend simply laughed it off.

"You're pretty fast for someone so small," Jun spoke up breaking the silence between the three of them and earning a slight glare from the volleyball player.

"If you came here just to insult my height then at least come up with something better than that," Akane replied as she removed her headband from her hair letting her bangs fall into her face before she tied the band around her wrist.

"Thank you!" Tetsuya finally spoke up before bowing to the small girl, but his voice had been so loud and sudden Akane had almost jumped back a few steps in surprise.

"Ah um…this is about the…gifts, right?" Akane said softly before raising a free hand to gently scratch at one of her bright red cheeks. The dark haired captain slowly straightened himself back up, the same serious expression plaster on his face, but his cheeks she noted were a bit red. She felt her heart flutter with a bit of hope; however, she tried her best to not let that hope get to her. She didn't want to get her hopes up only to have them squashed when he rejected her right in front of his friend too.

"Figure that out all on your own?" Jun replied only to receive a glare from the shorter girl in front of him before the captain gave him a look that more or less said he wanted to talk with the girl…alone. Jun sighed lightly before raising his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright, I'll meet you at the bust stop," he said while turning on his heel to finally give the two of them a moment. The moment Akane could no longer see the center fielder she quickly bowed her head to Tetsuya.

"I uh…I'm so sorry to dump this on you right now! I-I meant it though! I've been coming to your games since my first year and I know we don't know each other too well, but I'd really, really like to get to know you better," Akane said her voice growing quieter as each word escaped her mouth. Her cheeks were bright red and both of her hands were now gripping at the strap of her gym bag. She blinked a few times in surprise though when she saw a calloused hand being offered to her. She slowly raised her head to look at the dark haired captain who was currently trying his hardest not to look at her. She noted that his cheeks were still somewhat pink and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips when he spoke again.

"Your letter…you wanted to hold my hand?" his voice was quiet, but he was at least proud of the fact that he hadn't stuttered one bit. He wasn't used to this type of situation, sure, girls had asked him out before and he had gone off to hold a relationship or two in his life, but it wasn't like they went this out their way for him. Most girls complained about sitting out in the heat to watch his games, but here she was saying she'd gone to every single one of them for two years and for some reason he doubted she was lying. He released a breath he wasn't holding when he felt her gently take his hand and intertwine their fingers, but he still refused to look at her even as they began walking in step beside each other. "Are you free…next Sunday?" he asked in the same quiet tone as he chanced a glance over at her. She was bright red, staring at their hands, and a small smile graced her lips.

"Will you let me hold you then?" she boldly asked with something of a chuckle. He felt the heat in his cheeks intensify as his grip on her hand increased a fraction thanks to his embarrassment.


End file.
